


you’re not alone like you think you are

by bubblelaureno



Series: Femslash February 2021 [5]
Category: Love Island (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/F, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-14 11:07:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29294895
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubblelaureno/pseuds/bubblelaureno
Summary: Loyalty to Lottie’s best friend is entangled with confusing feelings for Marisol, who she can’t like after what she did, right?This is also for day 5 of Femslash February, this oneshot has had a lot of time devoted to it x
Relationships: Lottie/Marisol (Love Island), Lucas Koh/Main Character (Love Island)
Series: Femslash February 2021 [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2137680
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	you’re not alone like you think you are

**Author's Note:**

> “You're not alone like you think you are  
> We all have scars, I know it's hard.”  
> Arlo Parks
> 
> February prompt: Enemies to Lovers  
> Monthly prompt competition from [r/LITGFanFiction](https://www.reddit.com/r/LITGFanFiction/) on Reddit.
> 
> The soundtrack to this oneshot is Collapsed in Sunbeams by Arlo Parks, so feel free to check out that album for the vibes. I’ve been replaying it a lot and absolutely love it!

Lottie throws herself down on the day bed next to Olivia (‘call me Livia, I hate that name), making it wobble a bit. She looks over to Livia, her eyes sparking with anger. 

“I don’t understand how you can take her side, after what she did! They’re both as bad as each other. And...you two were coupled up. Am I seriously the only one who cares here? Everyone else is ignoring the situation.” She throws her hands up in the air in frustration.

“It takes two to tango. And I’m not exactly into anyone in here…”

“Apart from Lucas, yeah, I know. But true friends don’t walk over each other like that! I don’t understand how you can still talk to Marisol like everything’s normal still. Oww...” Livia suddenly slaps Lottie in the arm with a smirk and Lottie sends a glare Livia’s way. “Why did you prod me in the arm like that?”

Livia cackles from beside her, and holds her stomach. Lottie stares at her, completely straight faced. Livia recovers her composure and smirks over at Lottie. “What?” Lottie glares at her.

“Nothing. Just that, Marisol’s not the only person involved here. Rocco very much is involved too. And...he’s my partner, or ex, whatever you want to call it. You’re very focused on Marisol, it’s...suspicious, to say the least. It’s almost like, you might like her or something. I could quite easily be chatting shit again. But then again, what if I’m not?” Livia taps Lottie’s nose and stands up. “I’ll leave you to think that one over. Don’t write it off that quickly.” Lottie tries to snap back but her mouth opens and shuts. _What if she’s right? Livia can’t be right, right? You don’t even like girls, you’re straight. Or mostly, anyway…What was that crush of yours before, on your friend who moved away? You are a little...obsessed with Marisol, in a way you’re not about Rocco. Which is strange, don’t you think? Livia isn’t bothered, at all. Maybe because that gives her an easy chance to swap to Lucas without having backlash from everyone else, but she doesn’t care what everyone else thinks. Which makes it strange that you’re going into attack mode on her behalf._

Lottie groans and lies back, more confused than before. That statement of Livia’s stuck in her head, replaying at top volume. _She must know, right? What it’s like to have a crush on a girl, or feelings you can’t understand. She’s had past girlfriends, Livia even kissed Marisol during truth or dare._

*******

Just thinking about that settles Lottie into remembering about before, about the very first day.

“It’s got to be a dare. I’d prefer not to bare my soul just yet, we barely know each other.” 

Livia moves forward and retrieves a card from the dare pile. She taps her lip as she flips it over and scans the card.

“Oh, excellent. Kiss someone who isn’t your partner,” she laughs slightly, her eyes crinkle at the edges. “That’s an easy choice.”

She makes her way across the circle, light with practised steps. She scans the other side of the circle, her eyes landing on Marisol and she moves forward. She smiles an almost cat-like, lazy grin, and stops before Marisol. 

Lottie watches Marisol’s face change slightly as she notices the tall girl before her, watches Marisol shift on her feet and fiddle with her hands. The confidence she usually held had vanished, Livia’s presence enough to stun her into silence. Livia moves forward, her hands slip into Marisol’s hair as they move closer together. 

Lottie realises she’s staring, but can’t pull herself away. She watches Livia’s strawberry scented lips meet Marisol’s, the kiss simple and sweet but appears to last forever. She feels her nails clench into her palms, and she doesn’t understand her feelings. _Do you want to be Livia right now, or to kiss her? That’s the only thing that makes sense, Marisol is hell bent on sticking to her plans and leaving the rest of you in the dust. Livia challenges you, but still has a sense of loyalty. Something Marisol would do good to learn._

Bobby nudges her in the arm, and she blinks, turning her head towards him. “You zoned out there. Lost in the clouds, are we?”

“What?” Her voice is sharp as she stares at him in surprise and looks around at the rest of the group. The game has gone on without her noticing, and as she looks over to the other side of the circle, dark brown eyes catch hers. She gets drawn in by Marisol yet again, who appears dazed, her cheeks still blushing bright from earlier. _You wish you could do that to her. No, wait, Charlotte what are you doing? She’s exactly the type of girl you’d keep away from, the intelligent type, someone who shields her knowledge away from everyone else and holds it over people’s heads. You’ve known people like her before, who believe they’re far better than everyone else because they went to university and got perfect grades. You don’t see yourself losing at life at all, for choosing to pursue your dreams, but the stuck up, posh types think otherwise. You know her type, too well._

***********

Lottie stands and shakes her head. _Livia’s talking a load of bollocks. There’s no way you could like_ **_her._ ** _Livia on the other hand, there’s a chance of that. But you’re fine to stay just friends with her, she draws you in for a different reason. Livia did surprise you a little though, she doesn’t take you as the average PHD student, never mind Astrophysics. She’s a little older than you, 26 to your 24. But then again, following assumptions has hardly done you any favours. You might need her to help you work this out though. Even if she might pull the I-told-you-so-Charlotte card. You only let her use your full name, mainly as she’s overly persistent with it and talks you around in that way that only Livia can do. Like you’d follow her to the ends of the earth if she wished. But you might as well try getting some answers from her._

Lottie’s so lost in her head that she isn’t aware she’s started to move already. She stops in the middle of the lawn and tries to spot Livia or Lucas, as she was definitely aware if she saw one, the other wouldn’t be long away. She spots two shadows on the terrace and makes her way over. She’s halfway up the stairs when she hears voices and stops to listen out.

“He really missed a trick, giving you up that quickly,” she hears a loud cackle. _That’s Livia’s laugh._

“I’d say the opposite happened. He didn’t even have the common decency to say ‘hi, I kind of might like Marisol now,’ which, not going to lie, was a little humiliating to have that sprung on me like that. But whatever, I didn’t even see him that way, or feel anything for any of them until you appeared. Besides, I doubt he actually has feelings for her, he was just feeling threatened and she was sweet enough to believe him. She’s struggling a lot, so I won’t hate her for it. Lottie on the other hand, talk about an overreaction! I know she’s been stuck in a friendship couple with Bobby since forever, but there’s worse situations to be in. She’s in one of the safest couples, apart from Nope, of course. I know she’s my friend and all, but it’s doing my head in that she’s putting all of it entirely on Marisol. It just makes no sense…” Livia’s voice fades out slightly, and Lottie creeps up the flight of stairs and minds her step. The words scare her, but slightly make sense. _Are you allowed to look at her like that? Or is it completely wrong? As Marisol wouldn’t go anywhere near someone who takes a position so strongly against her. And if you’re not careful, you might push Livia away too, and then you’ll be alone again._

The conversation stops abruptly and Lottie trips as she’s coming closer and closer to the door. She makes a speedy recovery, but the noise of her falling upstairs alerts the pair upstairs. The door to the terrace opens as she gets closer to the top, with Livia leaning against it.

“Spying, are we? How interesting. Or have you given some thought as to what I said earlier?” Livia winks at her and laughs slightly. Her usual cackle appears softer and sweeter than usual.

“Maybe. You were talking about me, though,” Lottie taps her chin and tries to figure out how to ask her question. “And...how do I put this? How did you know that you liked girls? How did you know that it was more than just admiration, and how could you tell the difference? As I’m very confused. I might like someone too. Not who you’re thinking. I’m not asking because of that. Oh, whatever, you won’t believe me anyway. You seem to have an idea in your head that I like Marisol, and nothing can shift that,” Lottie crosses her arms over her chest and moves forward. Livia turns and takes a seat on the roof terrace next to Lucas, and taps the bench beside her.

Lottie takes a seat and swings her legs slightly, despite her height, she finds herself slightly too short for the bench. “How high up is this bench, seriously? I’m 5’9, I’m very much used to having my feet reach the floor.”

“High up. But as for your statement, I’ll take you at your word, for now anyway. Is the other person Henrik, by any chance? Just a hunch. I knew I liked girls when I had a massive crush on my best friend’s older sister, who was only in the year above, so not that much of a gap. When she asked me on a date, I jumped at the chance. Surprisingly, it wasn’t weird between me and my best friend after. I worked out the difference as I couldn’t stop thinking about Margot, and we did have a fair amount in common. She was majorly into books and literature and introduced me to some new stuff I hadn’t heard of before. It’s a cliche, but I felt the butterflies in my stomach. I’d associate stuff with her, and we had a similar sense of humour. We dated for 2 years, but broke up before she was due to go to uni, knowing long distance would be difficult.” 

Lottie turns to study Livia carefully. She appears warmer in temperament, despite what Rocco did. Her eyes sparkle and glint in the sunlight, the gold rings in her pupils more prominent. Her long, medium brown hair is loose and she pushes it over her shoulders. _Okay. You haven’t talked with Marisol, so how do you know you don’t have much in common? Liv seems fine, anyway, absolutely radiant. She’s different with Lucas, they do bring out the best in each other. You have toyed with the idea of Henrik, and you enjoyed his company on the date, so that’s a suitable cover._

“Are you okay though? Genuinely. Like after Rocco,” Lottie watches as a smile spreads across Livia’s face.

“Of course I am. Me and Rocco were about as compatible as a fish and a tree, which sounds ridiculous, but bear with me here. A fish cannot climb a tree, and by that logic,we’re incompatible,” she cackles at her joke and nudges Lucas. “While, me and Lucas are as compatible as a bird and a tree. Birds can fly and settle in trees, right? So we’re far more compatible.”

“I suppose you’re the tree in this scenario, right? As you’re sturdy, solid, and have a calming presence. That’s just vibes that I get from you,” Lucas replies, before facepalming. “Oh dear. I sound like Rocco. It’s rubbing off on me.”

Livia winks before standing up and starts to sing. 

“ _Good vibrations, what a sweet sensation._ That’s all I remember! _Good vibrations, sweet sensation.”_

Despite the fact she was doing it for a laugh, Livia has a pretty good voice. 

“Eh, it happens to the best of us. If you’re around people for long periods of time, it’s understandable that they rub off on you,” she sits down and rests her head on Lucas’ shoulder and grins over at him. “I’m absolutely peachy, now I’m with you.” _Okay. That’s a good thing, right? But what Rocco and Marisol did was still wrong, even if Livia isn’t hurt by it._

Lottie sighs before standing up. “See you around.” she calls to the couple, who have gone back to looking in each other’s eyes. As she leaves, they share a kiss.

**********

She takes a seat on the daybed.

_It might do you good to replay the event in question. To see if you can reason things out._

Lottie dips into her head, skipping back through memories until she settles on the Kiss and Tell challenge. She presses play and closes her eyes, letting the afternoon’s challenge absorb her.

“Guys! I got a text!” Priya calls out. 

Lottie joins the other islanders and gathers around Priya.

“Islanders-it’s time to find out who’s been naughty, and who can keep their mouth shut in today’s challenge: ‘Kiss and Tell’,” Priya reads out.

Lottie doesn’t pay attention to the conversation, until she hears Livia’s voice.

“It’s just a challenge. But one that might amp up the drama in here like a pressure cooker. So be mindful of that.” Livia stands with her hands on her hips, confident and sure of herself.

“I’m totally looking forward to it. I’ve been looking forward to getting to know you all, and there’s no better way to do that than up close and personal,” Henrik replies.

“You boys all better brush your teeth if you think we’re going to be kissing you,” Lottie’s dry tone cracks Livia up, who links arms with her to lead her to the dressing room. The room is less hectic with fewer people, and as they get ready, Livia hums under her breath. _Just the presence of Lucas appears to have cheered her up, but she’s naturally quite bubbly anyway. You do wonder how she became so close to you._

When everyone’s ready, they go outside. There’s a row of question marks and a blackboard with columns marked ‘Girls’ and ‘Boys’. Everyone stands on a question mark. Livia’s phone beeps, and she reads the text.

“Islanders, in your teams you will have to decide which person you think ‘did the deed’ in a scenario drawn from a deck of cards. Then one of the team members must kiss the person on the opposite team who you think is the answer. Every correct answer earns the team a point. The winning team will get cocktails this evening! #getlippy.” 

“So let me get this straight-we read something on a card and then decide who we want to kiss? Isn’t there any reason why we shouldn’t just kiss whoever we want?” Rocco asked. Lottie’s eyes narrow at his statement and she fixes him with a pointed glare. _He’s coupled up with Livia, so he should honour that._

“Yeah, because then you won’t get the points,” Gary points out.

“So I can either play to win, or I can use this as a chance to kiss some people?” Rocco grins. Lottie rests a hand on Livia’s shoulder who rolls her eyes at Rocco before relaxing her expression. _Interesting. She’s not taking any of his shit at all, good for her._

“Mate, what is it with you and these challenges?” Gary asks, looking between Rocco and Livia. Livia’s expression was hard to make out, she looks oddly calm. Lottie looks at her with worry. _You know she can handle herself, but it’s still a little difficult to watch._

“There’s no reason why you shouldn’t just kiss who you want, Rocco,” Marisol points out and flashes him a flirty smile. _Right. She said before she wasn’t here to be friendly. If she’s going to do what you think, that’ll mean stabbing Livia in the back, who’s the only person who can tolerate her. Hope and Priya are closest to each other, you’re only friends with Livia and Livia’s friends with both you and Marisol. You hope she’ll come to her senses and let Marisol go._

“Yes there is! He’s coupled up with Livia!” Lottie protests. Livia turns to face her and smiles softly. She stretches up to reach Lottie’s ear. 

“Thanks. Nice to know someone cares. I can still handle myself, but it’s good to know I can have someone there if I need to,” she whispers, her breath tickles Lottie’s ear.

Rocco’s antics have distracted both of them, and as they turn around, Hope retrieves a card. Hope has to find the ‘boy who spent more than £500 on a date’. _Surely Lucas? He’s loaded._

The girls go into a huddle to discuss.

“Come on, it has to be Lucas. The dude is so obviously loaded,” Lottie winks at Livia who giggles beside her. 

Priya disagrees with her comment and Marisol joins the conversation. “Does no one else think it would be Rahim?” _Hmm. That’s a good shout, actually._

Livia holds her hand up to Marisol, who high fives her. “I agree. It must be Rahim. Besides, Lucas is uncomfortable with being seen as posh in general, he doesn’t want people to see him for his money. So likely wouldn’t spend that much on a date.”

“I think that’s the right choice. Livia has very good reasons as to why it wouldn’t be Lucas, too.” Marisol nods.

Hope makes her way over to Rahim and gives him a gentle kiss. 

Lottie blocks out the conversation and watches Gary draw the next card. “This next one is ‘the girl who once got a full makeover just for a movie night with her mates…’” _Maybe Livia would? She seems the type._

The boys start to discuss the card.

“They’re not even paying attention to what we’re saying. But we’re all thinking the same thing, right? It’s got to be Livia. I don’t think I’ve ever been around someone who puts so much effort into looking good.” Lottie nudges Livia, who smirks at her and bursts into laughter.

“Nope, no way. Not me. You’re barking up the wrong tree there. I’m far from that type of girl. I was actually thinking it might be Priya.,” She winks at Priya who nods.

“Yeah, it’s me. I look good for me, so there’s no reason not to do it all the time,” Priya grins. 

“Yess! Called it. Two in a row.” Livia turns to face the front again.

Lottie watches Gary walk over and he makes his way straight to Livia, who purses her lips and presses them gently against his. _She’s doing that for Marisol’s sake, how good of her._

A couple rounds pass, and Lottie focuses back again.

“Does anyone mind if I have a turn?” Lucas asks. She notices Livia’s ears prick up in front of her.

“Yeah, go for it mate.” Gary nods.

“I have to find ‘the girl who was once kicked out of a club for dancing on the tables…’”Lucas takes a card. _Livia or Hope. Got to be. Livia keeps getting them right, too._

The boys start talking over each other, the girls wait until they’re not listening to discuss it.

“To be honest, I think it would be Livia,” Marisol said. Livia keeps a straight face easily, not giving anything away.

“Really?” Livia lifts one eyebrow.

“I can totally see you getting up and dancing on the tables and having a good time!” Marisol bumps against Livia’s shoulder who shakes her head.

“I like to dance, but not on the tables. Not my style. What about you, Hope?” Livia turns to Hope who laughs slightly.

“I’m not going to deny it. I have done that before. You’re very good at guessing these things, I’m impressed,” Hope said.

“I’m just a good listener, and pick stuff up based off people in general. I’m quite a people person.”

Lucas makes his way over to Livia, and she gives him a gentle, delicate kiss. _She’s loyal, so waiting until she’s free from Rocco to even try it. You’re impressed by that._

“Good answer, but wrong. It’s actually Hope,” Priya grins.

Time speeds up as Marisol runs up to the stack of cards. Livia gives her a sceptical look and shifts her position marginally.

“One of us is coming to kiss you!” Marisol smiles as she grabs a card. “I’ve got to find… ‘the boy who gets a back, sack and crack wax every month’?” _She seems suspiciously chirpy. You have a bad feeling about this._

“I don’t get why people care so much. It’s just hair. Personality is far more important,” Livia replies. Her voice is slightly spiky, and she levels a careful stare at Marisol who looks away from her. _Yup. She knows._

Lottie watches Marisol like a hawk and waits for her to disappear from the group. The discussion had finished, the group settled on Bobby, but Marisol had already started to walk to the boys. 

Marisol makes a beeline for Rocco and kisses him. The kiss appears to be in slow motion, and Lottie’s eyes give off sparks of anger. _How dare she! Do the rest of us mean that little to her? And fucking Livia over in that fashion too._

She turns to Livia, who smiles softly. “What? It’s just a game. And one small kiss.” To everyone else she appears calm and collected, but Lottie spots the anger beading on her words, her usual warmth clouding over. _She must not be the type for a scene then. And one small kiss? Maybe you were distracted by watching Marisol, then._

“Not cool, you guys,” Lottie glares at them in disbelief.

“Did you not hear us saying it definitely wouldn’t be Rocco?” Hope looks disappointed and frowns at Marisol. 

“I wanted to get on with playing the game,” Marisol explains with a blank expression. _She knows all too well what she’s doing._

“I think some of us are playing more of a game than others, _babe…”_ Lottie snaps at Marisol, and fixes her emerald green eyes on the other girl. To her surprise, as she holds Marisol’s stare, she feels the stirrings of something in her stomach. _No way. No. You can’t like her._

Rocco grabs the next card. “So I’ve got to kiss the girl who ‘cancelled a romantic weekend with her boyfriend because her best friend got stood up on a blind date.’” _Shit. That must be Livia’s card._

“It definitely wasn’t Marisol, was it? Whoever did that actually values their friendships, and gives a shit about their friends.” Lottie snaps at Marisol, who raises an eyebrow. 

“Typical. My card appears now of all times. Lovely, everything’s just fine!” Livia says, her voice loses all emotions entirely.

“Of course. You care about all of us, so that makes sense,” Hope nods and squeezes Livia’s shoulder who smiles at her.

Rocco comes over and walks directly to Marisol. He kisses her and she kisses him back, hard. All other noise disappears and the sound of their lips takes over. _Why couldn’t she kiss you like that? Hold up. What are you thinking? You need to defend Livia._

“It’s fine. It’s just a challenge after all,” Livia puts on a brave face.

“It’s not fine at all. They’re using the challenge as an excuse to get off with each other, and you’re leaving them to it!” Lottie snaps, lifting her hands up in frustration.

“Back off, and leave it, Charlotte. I don’t want a scene,” Livia’s words bite hard into Lottie, who blinked back tears and watched her grab the next card. _No one ever uses your full name. You suppose you should back off. But she deserves better, so does Marisol. Rocco’s a slime ball._

She doesn’t participate in the next discussion and watches Livia make her way to Lucas. _He likely hasn’t been caught naked in public, it’s probably Henrik. But she deserves some happiness._

Livia pulls Lucas close and slides her hands up his back. He wraps his arms around her waist and tips her backwards and lowers her into the kiss. The kiss deepens, which shows how much she was holding back before. As they separate, she smiles like the cat that’s got the cream and leans against him. _Good. You’re happy for her. You wish you could have something like what they have._

*******

Livia’s appearance causes her to pull herself back into the present moment and they sit in silence for a while. Livia holds her hand gently.

“Umm… Liv, I’ve been thinking a lot, and I realised something,” Lottie’s throat dries up, and she coughs as she tries to get the words out. “Umm...you’re right. When you said I might like Marisol. I’ve been feeling these strange feelings... that I couldn’t explain fully. I cracked down on her pretty hard, partly because I was scared of the possibility of actually liking her, actually liking girls. But I do have some feelings for her, there’s no point ignoring it. I’ve majorly messed up now, though. After what I said to her, and I also thought I’d lose you, and be completely alone again. I struggle with keeping female friends, other girls don’t tend to like me. Most of my friends are guys. After the challenge, I did prepare myself for the possibility that I’d be alone once again, and this time I’d deserve it…” her voice turns small as she looks over to Livia, who gently grasps her chin and wipes her tears from her face. _Thankfully you wore waterproof mascara, that’s a godsend. The tears are a leftover from earlier._

“You’re not alone like you think you are. Trust me. You’re one of my best friends, the other’s Marisol and I don’t want to lose either of you. Besides, you’ve got Bobby too, I’m pretty sure. If you apologise, you never know what might happen. That’s not just me being super optimistic here, also. I’m very difficult to shake off, just because I was super pissed off at you after the challenge doesn’t mean I’ll give up on you that quickly. You mean a lot to me, you’re like my sister. It’s probably an only child thing, or a me thing, but I adopt people who I care about the most siblings wise. Fingers crossed that doesn’t sound weird,” Livia crosses her fingers and looks down slightly. _That’s far from weird. You actually understand there._

“I’m honoured. I’m also an only child, so I get that much. But I haven’t been quite as bad to you as to both Marisol and Priya, but I only feel guilty about one of those. I know it’s a little awkward for you, to be in the middle of us all the time and having to be the mediator…” Lottie squeezes Livia’s hand and watches her face light up, her eyes sparkling in the sunlight. 

Marisol notices Livia from a distance and starts to make her way over. When she gets closer, she sees the tall blonde next to her, and groans slightly. Hopefully, she hadn’t been manifesting things, but there was an odd amount of tension between her and Lottie, tension she struggles to put a finger on. _Watch it. You don’t want yet another straight girl crush, and you don’t want to make her uncomfortable. People have assumed before that because you’re bi, you automatically have a crush on all girls and guys, which can’t be further from the truth. It must be Livia who’s making you feel like this, right? Who’s making your heart beat faster and your head spin? At least that would make sense. But love isn’t meant to make sense, or you wouldn’t like Rocco. He’s not your usual type, and it hurts to think that he might be using you to stay on Love Island, but you’ve made your bed, now you have no choice but to lie in it. If it turns out to be a mistake, fine, but what if it doesn’t?_

Marisol stops before she gets too close to them and fiddles with her long hair. _Hold on. What are you even doing? You only get this nervous if you like someone, your confidence entirely disappears and you become a quiet, awkward person. Which doesn’t happen around anyone else, even Rocco. You can’t like Lottie, she hates you, so it must be Livia._

She nearly turns back and chickens out, but forces herself to make her way over. She feels unsure and uncertain, she stares at her feet and focuses on putting one foot in front of the other. In no time at all, she’s by the day beds. Her throat dries up, and she can’t speak. She finds herself staring until Livia looks over to her.

“Oh, Marisol! Hi! Come sit down,” Livia pats the day bed next to her and grins at her. Marisol sits down before she can talk herself out of it and Lottie looks over to her with interest. Her expression is hard to fully describe, but makes Marisol’s cheeks feel hot, she’s not used to people looking at her like that. The silence is eerie and strange, and she tries desperately to fill it.

“Umm… Liv, I was just checking whether you were okay? After Rocco, and all that…” Marisol winces slightly as she sounds uncertain.

“It would’ve been nice to get the heads up, is all. I’m far from stupid. It was a little funny how bad you two were at hiding things, I’ve been able to tell since yesterday. You and your ‘heart eyes’ are hardly subtle, Mari,” Livia makes quotation marks in the air and nudges Marisol who finds herself blushing further. _Are you really that obvious? You can’t be._

“I don’t do ‘heart eyes’, Olivia! I don’t. That isn’t a thing. I should definitely have given you the heads up though, I’m sorry for that.”

Lottie snorts with laughter behind a hand. “You didn’t just do that when trying to smooth stuff over. This is going to be really funny, and you’ll deserve it.” _Wait, what? What did you do?_

Livia rolls her eyes. “It’s Livia, not Olivia. I’m a little bit fed up of constantly having to correct people, but oh well. If you can’t remember one simple thing, Liv works just as well,” she stands, and shakes off Lottie’s arm. Livia’s tone appears neutral, no sign of anger in her voice.“I’ll be off. Barely seen Lucas at all today, which must be rectified,” as Livia walks off, she looks back over her shoulder. To Marisol’s surprise, she doesn’t appear mad in the slightest, a soft smile appears on her face. _Something’s going on. Some kind of plot._

Lottie draws her eye back to Marisol. “Something’s definitely going on there. I was with both of them earlier, she’s already seen him today! Whatever, not my issue. Wow. Of all things to do, calling her Olivia’s especially bad. Makes me feel better about doing it once before, and she flipped at me. You didn’t get the full force of her rage at all, though. That wasn’t as enjoyable to watch,” Lottie smirks at her, and appears slightly disappointed.

“In my defence, my best friend was called Olivia. When you’re that close for that long, it sticks.” Marisol tries to focus, and bites down on her lip. She was finding herself floating into a strange form of dreamland around Lottie.

Lottie clears her throat and looks into Marisol’s eyes. “Look. I know I’ve been an absolute arsehole to you today. I was defending Liv, but that’s not much of an excuse as she can take care of herself and told me off for it. So I’m sorry for lashing out at you because you kissed Rocco in the challenge. I’ll try to back off a bit, I might not agree with your decision, but you don’t deserve to be treated like crap,” Marisol blinks and watches Lottie warily. _Wait. Is that because of Livia? Or because she means it._

“Liv didn’t ask me to do this. I wanted to.” Lottie moves slightly closer. She lightly grasps Marisol’s hands, and to her surprise, she doesn’t pull away. Marisol looks up and finds herself holding her breath. _Her eyes were so bright this close. You had no idea they were such a bright green._

She finds herself captivated by Lottie and moves even closer. They are practically breathing the same air, and she picks out the different flecks of green in Lottie’s eyes. _Why not try it, to see if your feelings are real?_

“W...would you mind if I kissed you…” her question is cut short as Lottie’s lips land on hers gently and her eyes widen. The kiss maintains a level of softness she has never experienced before, and her heartbeat speeds up. _Wow. Lottie’s a great kisser. That’s cool, really cool. Marisol, don’t ruin it with your awkwardness here._

As they separate, Marisol feels her cheeks heat up further. She is stunned, and unable to fully process what happened. They hold a silence together, but different from the one earlier. This one is warm and enveloping, holds her close like a warm blanket. 

“Wow. Oh, okay. I...wow.” Marisol hides behind her hair in embarrassment at not being able to talk straight.

“You felt that too, huh? Believe it or not, I’ve never had a crush on any girls apart from you. That does explain something, really. Huh, Liv was right,” Lottie laughs slightly and puts an arm around her shoulders. Marisol leans into it, and finds herself drawn to Lottie. _Hold on. Liv was right?_

“What does Liv have to do with anything?”

“Ah. I was ranting about the challenge to her, and she just looked at me funny, before pointing out that I had just been ranting about you, and only you.I guess I’ve seemed super ‘focused’ on you. So I wanted to see what that was all about, whether the feelings were real. And I think they definitely were. I’ve never felt that way for anyone else. I know it’s a lot to spring on someone, but it’s been a thing for a while, even if I didn’t realize it,” Lottie explains. She reaches over and plays with a loose curl of Marisol’s hair, who sits there and lets her. It feels oddly familiar and comforting.

“Oh, of course. That makes sense. Liv does seem to know things before the rest of us catch up. I’m not comfortable with jumping into something right away, so can we take things slow?” She focuses on Lottie and crosses her fingers. _Hopefully, you don’t get shut down for wanting to be sure first. People have been put off before._

“Fine...” Lottie snaps and rolls her eyes, clearly not fine with it. “I do like Henrik, anyway. In case you change your mind, I’ll be completely fine with him. You did risk everything for Rocco and all, and it’s my first ever real thing with a girl in general, so that’s _fine_ . It’s just funny if anything... I was so jealous of you. And I was so angry at what you did, yet Liv wasn’t overly bothered. I don’t think anyone else has noticed, possibly Lucas if he’s as perceptive as Liv. They do fit together well. As long as the possibility is there, I’m _okay with it._ ” Lottie’s harsh tone bites at Marisol slightly but before she can respond Lottie moves away, and stands. She leaves Marisol sitting there with wide eyes. Her lips feel numb, and they won’t stop vibrating. She puts a finger to her lips, her head whirrs as her thoughts spin. _Kissing her felt better than Rocco. But you shouldn’t jump into something that quickly. She’s clearly frustrated by it, maybe she can do things without reasoning them out first, but you can’t. She’ll have to learn to respect that and you’ll both have to compromise. Her changeable nature is a little difficult to deal with._

  
  
  
  
  
  



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